8-Bit Cafe in Shinjuku

[greg]

Check it out now, funk soul brother! http://8bitcafe.net/index.html

This is a pub in Shinjuku for nerds. 8-bit retro games, manga, figures, and who knows what else. Here's an article:
http://japanlive.blogspot.com/2008/02/l ... 8-bit.html

Has anyone been there before? GP? Japjac? Dcoyles? I want to check this place out. I'm heading to Japan April 28th-May 10th, and I'll be in Tokyo for the first few days of my trip.

I got a great price flying on Singapore Airlines, but they won't land in Narita until just after 7pm. I probably won't get to my hotel in the Ueno area until about 10pm, conservatively (taking the Skyliner, staying in the Minami Senju area). I'm thinking I'll either hit Akihabara's game centers at first (straight connection via the Hibiya subway line), or I may try going to this 8-bit Cafe. I dunno... I'd have to find it first, and even though they're open until 4am, the trains stop at around 1am, so I may be safer going to Akihabara and playing some Gundam Senjou no Kizuna and some shmups before bedtime.

[rancor]

I went there a while back. From the pics it looks a bit different so it may have changed, but I was not impressed one bit. The servers were dopey shinjuku girls that didn't know anything about the items they were surrounded by. They were obviously hired for their looks. It felt like I was drinking in the bedroom of one of my nerdy friends being served by his disinterested older sister. I was there a total of 15 minutes before me and my buddies decided to depart. Its a cool "museum" style bar, but don't go there expecting wild times, engaging staff members or outgoing fellow patrons. Oh, and of course NO PICTURES!!! Take everything I said with a grain of salt as this may have all changed from my visit several months ago. I cant see how they would have possibly been in business this long if they've kept the same vibe.

In other news, I'm about 10 minutes away from Ueno in Nishi-arai. Lemme know if you wanna meet up for some good times.

[dcharlie]

Has anyone been there before? GP? Japjac? Dcoyles?--> Dcharlie

yup yup, it's not too bad, it's a decent enough set up but rancor covered most of the issues.

Not too far away from there is 16Shots, which i prefer mainly because i know more of the people who go there regularly - though "Master" the owner does have a habit of enforcing a "Japanese only" rule if there are a number of non-English speaking people in the bar (which is fine by me). 16Shots gets full pretty quickly though as it's quite a small bar.

8-Bit is better for sitting around in a group than 16S due to it being a good bit bigger too.

Be warned that both can be quite pricey - cocktails are fairly expensive and you're probably advised to eat before 16shots - 8-Bit Cafe's food isn't bad!

There are a few more bars/cafe's around Tokyo too - will forward them on.

[Skykid]

One of the best Japanese websites I've ever seen.

[greg]

One of the best Japanese websites I've ever seen.

I'll say! The Flash animation is just like Wip3out, and anything that reminds me of that game makes me happy.

Not too far away from there is 16Shots, which i prefer mainly because i know more of the people who go there regularly - though "Master" the owner does have a habit of enforcing a "Japanese only" rule if there are a number of non-English speaking people in the bar (which is fine by me). 16Shots gets full pretty quickly though as it's quite a small bar.

Whoah, neatness. I found their blog here: http://blog.goo.ne.jp/16shots and even without reading any Japanese, you see images of Milestone, Princess Crown, Soukyuugurentai, R-Type, etc. Nice!

In other news, I'm about 10 minutes away from Ueno in Nishi-arai. Lemme know if you wanna meet up for some good times.

Yeah, that'd be cool. I won't be with my wife and toddler, so I'm free. I won't be renting a keitai this time, so if we meet up, we'd have to do it the traditional way. I'll be staying at a place called Meigetsu Hotel, near the Sumida River and a few minutes walk away from Senju Ohashi Station on the Keisei line. A few minutes walk south of the hotel is a station for the JR Joban line to Ueno and the Hibiya Subway, which takes me straight to Akihabara and exits right in front of Yodobashi Camera. Lemme know if you want to meet up the night I fly in. I will have dinner with a college friend sometime that weekend, and I plan to meet up with a Youtube friend, thomasgotschalk. Maybe I'll end up staying an extra night in Tokyo... I dunno.

Dang, one of these days, I want to catch a live show in Tokyo. There are some decent Japanese bands I'd like to see in concert, like Advantage Lucy, Hartfield, and Nanocycle. A couple days before I arrive, Ringo Deathstarr is playing in Shimokitazawa. Nuts. One of these days...

[JAPJAC]

GReg-I've been to ALL the retro gaming bars in Tokyo and this one I would rank as the worst.

Cheers,

JAPJAC.

[Pocket_Man]

i´ve been at the 8bit cafe 2 or 3 years ago,
i liked it.we had a great conversation with the owner.
we allways took the 5 minutes walk around the 16 shots but
i never saw the 16shots from the inside,
there were about 5 seats wich were always taken.

[Kakizaki]

I have been to the 8 bit in Shinjuku a few times and have had a blast - last time was in May of 2009. The owner played me and some of my friends in SF II on SFC. He beat the shit out of us while we were drunk using E. Honda and just hundred hand slapping us across the screen while laughing his ass off. Also gave us some free bags - I assume they do this for everyone. I think my girlfriend has some pretty funny pictures from one of the nights there. Edit - I noticed the comment about no pictures allowed. This was in force while we were there. However once the majority of the patrons left, the owner was actually taking pictures for us and with us. He also drew some art on my g/f's shoulder. Also, about the bartenders - Granted the last time I was there was in 2009, but there were a couple of cute girls there but they did talk about a wide variety of things - both music and games. One of the female bartenders actually talked to me about older SMT titles. But again, maybe things have changed since then.

My buddies and I were more curious about what was located in the center of that building while walking about the stairs to 8 bit. We were convinced it was a strip club filled with exotic eastern European chics - at least that is what we wanted it to be in our drunken stupor.

[greg]

Ok, so 8-Bit Cafe gets some mixed reviews, and it seems like it'll be fun if you don't expect much from the servers. 16 Shot seems cooler, but it's extremely small and the seats are always full (there are countless bars like this in big cities in Japan, it seems).

Are there any such places in Akihabara? A year ago I read about the Gundam Zeon Bar in Akihabara. It looked cute, and I bet people go there to quote Char a lot. Unfortunately, it's gone.

So I may be meeting up with Rancor and Dcharlie on this trip. I'll be in Tokyo for two full days, Saturday and Sunday. I'll be arriving Friday evening, and taking a bus to Nagano-ken Monday afternoon/evening. Last year, I went to spend the day in Akihabara with my cousin Yuu-kun who is into gaming, but doesn't know a lot about retro gaming since he's only 19 or so. He's come a long way from playing Harry Potter games to Disgaea and Grandia, but he doesn't know much about shmups or old stuff like the Turbo Duo. If anyone wants to join me on an Akihabara shopping expedition, you're more than welcome. But I find it difficult to go with other people because it's either they're into games but not into plastic models, or they're into anime stuff but not plastic models and shmups, etc. When I go to Akiba, I go everywhere.

If anything, maybe we can meet up at Hey for some gaming.

[rancor]

Don't worry about me... I'm 100% full blown, pure-bred nerd. I can handle anime, gaming, manga, cosplay, whatevs. Hell, I'll take you to the dirty-panties emporium and you can load up on school girl knickers if you're interested.

Gundam bar may be closed, but the Gundam cafe just opened about 2 months ago! You can get an Amuro tuna sandwich and some zaku fries. Outside of maid cafes (do they serve alcohol? I've never been), I'm not aware of there being too many themed bars in Akihabara.

[dcharlie]

yup, likewise i'm happy shopping anywhere

"I'm not aware of there being too many themed bars in Akihabara."

there's a few and not all great and not all serve alcohol. Haven't been to the Monster Hunter themed place yet.

[greg]

Don't worry about me... I'm 100% full blown, pure-bred nerd. I can handle anime, gaming, manga, cosplay, whatevs. Hell, I'll take you to the dirty-panties emporium and you can load up on school girl knickers if you're interested.

Perfect. If you're flexible,that'd be cool. I'm sure you can show me many stores I didn't even know about. Which reminds me, I had a good laugh at my friend's expense. He's married to a J-girl too and he visits Japan fairly often, staying in Akihabara even for several nights in a row. He e-mailed me on his trip a few weeks ago and was like, "Oh wow, I just found an arcade that is shmup heaven! It's called Hey by Taito and blah blah blah." I had to laugh, because 1. even people who've never been to Japan know about Hey, and 2. I even filmed several videos of the inside of that place on my last trip last summer.

Anyhow, Yodobashi opens up at 9am. Maybe we can meet up there and go from there.

Gundam bar may be closed, but the Gundam cafe just opened about 2 months ago! You can get an Amuro tuna sandwich and some zaku fries. Outside of maid cafes (do they serve alcohol? I've never been), I'm not aware of there being too many themed bars in Akihabara.

I visited the Gundam Cafe just to look around. I saw the Jaburo Blend Coffee and such. Pretty neat. It's in a prime location, so I hope it's successful.

By the way, I never mentioned it before, but your avatar of the Nishimatsuya bunny is great. Are you a dad? We buy a lot of clothing and such for our daughter at that store. American baby clothing tends to be made of terrible polyester, and American baby shoes are so terrible. When our daughter wears Japanese shoes, she can put them on and take them off by herself. American shoes are crap.

[rancor]

By the way, I never mentioned it before, but your avatar of the Nishimatsuya bunny is great. Are you a dad? We buy a lot of clothing and such for our daughter at that store. American baby clothing tends to be made of terrible polyester, and American baby shoes are so terrible. When our daughter wears Japanese shoes, she can put them on and take them off by herself. American shoes are crap.

Awesome!! You're the first person that's recognized it! (or at least let me know about it) But, yeah - I've got a 10-month old boy. Most everything we buy for him comes from Nishimatsuya. It's amazing! Unbelievably cheap, and I love their wild Engrish clothes. I've always loved the graphic design of the bunny mascot so I stole him as my avatar.

Heres some hot bunny TV commercial action for all interested:
Nishimatsuya

[GaijinPunch]

My son is 4 and I've never heard of this magical clothing label.

[dcharlie]

i must admit i discovered ours by accident - i had to go to some weird office for some permission stamp for some land tax "thing" and i walked past this huge warehouse with the cute bunny symbol.

Yup - EVERYTHING is well priced! I bought my son a Doraemon costum thing that he wore once :/

but given it's location it was extremely handy

GP, you going to join us for some sort of sausage fest?

[greg]

My son is 4 and I've never heard of this magical clothing label.

Nishimatsuya is a store. I don't think it's a clothing label. Maybe they have their own clothing label, but I haven't noticed it. I just communicated with the female spouse unit and she concurs that it is just a store's name.

There are several Nishimatsuya stores in the Nagano area, and I've taken some pics of their Engrish kids' stuff. My favorite clothing store to stock up on cheap Engrish shirts is Shimamura, but it depends on the location. One in Chino has tons of Engrish t-shirts when they're in season.

I'm convinced that manufacturers of American baby clothing actually hate children. Especially the shoes. Carters clothing tends to be decent and 100% cotton. One idiotic American phenomenon is the tendency to buy what I call "princess dresses" for little girls, with those lacy, silky dresses with that scratchy mesh to puff up the dress. I had to put my foot down with my mom and aunt for them to stop buying those dresses. I would hate to have that stuff on my skin, and my daughter kicks and screams when we tried to put them on her. The rule I laid down: if you won't wear it, don't exect my kid to wear it. She's not Cindarella, so leave those stupid dresses at the store, along with those torture shoes that match.

Oh, and that bunny video is pretty awesome.

[greg]

I found a cool video that covers both 8-Bit Cafe and 16 Shots:
http://jeansnow.net/2007/08/19/points-8 ... -16-shots/

[originalz]

I personally don't like 16 shots. The one time I went with my friends, the owner was a complete dick to us.

I'm a big fan of 8-bit, tho! I go there every once in awhile, I've found the people who work there to be really chill and easy to chat with. The other customers there are also usually pretty friendly, the retro game scene in Japan is kind of a "hipster" crowd, so not the usual social rejects that you might expect to find. Truthfully though, the gaming itself is kind of a side-thing, there's only one TV, mainly for you to chat with the other patrons about "ah, remember that game? Let's play it!". It's a very social place, so if you're expecting to go there and impress everyone with your high score skillz, you may not be very satisfied by it.

There's also a retro gaming bar in Nakano which I like to visit, I love everything about Nakano so it gets my vote! Heh, between that and the 80s Jpop bar, I never have any reason to go anywhere else to drink!

[dcharlie]

the owner was a complete dick to us.

weird - "The Master" has always been okay with us. Anyways, Nakano is good for me - it's a taxi hop/walk from home so if not this time, some other time.

Agreed on Nakano - i wanted to move that way when we bought our house but i was voted down

there's a good 8 or so bars now dotted around Tokyo, with a few others coming

http://jeansnow.net/2007/08/19/points-8 ... -16-shots/

Jean Snow is in our circle, but i've only met him in passing. Jason DeGroot (aka 6955) is the f*cking man though. Shame he left TK. Fun guy.

[greg]

There's also a retro gaming bar in Nakano which I like to visit, I love everything about Nakano so it gets my vote! Heh, between that and the 80s Jpop bar, I never have any reason to go anywhere else to drink!

Is this near the Broadway Building?

Are you thinking about meeting up with us at Hey on Friday night?

[originalz]

There's also a retro gaming bar in Nakano which I like to visit, I love everything about Nakano so it gets my vote! Heh, between that and the 80s Jpop bar, I never have any reason to go anywhere else to drink!

Is this near the Broadway Building?

Are you thinking about meeting up with us at Hey on Friday night?

Yeah, it's near Nakano Broadway.

I've got a company party tomorrow, but depending on what time you guys are planning to meet I might be able to show up for a few hours or so. Any idea on what's going on?

[greg]

I've got a company party tomorrow, but depending on what time you guys are planning to meet I might be able to show up for a few hours or so. Any idea on what's going on?

I probably won't arrive at Hey until 9:30 or 10pm Friday night. We were discussing details in the other thread.

I'll be heading to bed shortly. I'll be waking up early to catch my flight. I'll let the other guys contact you about this since I won't have much access to the Net for a while.

[dcharlie]

originalz, you can pm me here or over at the 'bore.

[Shocky]

Good stuff here!

I'm going to Tokyo for May 14-17th, and again on May 31 - June 5th, and want to check out these retro café/bars.

There's a Kamen Rider the Diner somewhere in Ikebukuro, anyone know how to find it? Anything else? I already went to Ninja Akasaka (cool place + good food)

I was hoping to go to Nasu Highland Amusement Park, but I guess it's a bad idea now, since it's quite close to Fukushima? Instead I'm going south, to Gunkanjima and maybe South Korea.

There are a few more bars/cafe's around Tokyo too - will forward them on.

So, got more of these?

There's also a retro gaming bar in Nakano which I like to visit, I love everything about Nakano so it gets my vote! Heh, between that and the 80s Jpop bar, I never have any reason to go anywhere else to drink!

Is this near the Broadway Building?

Yeah, it's near Nakano Broadway.

Originalz, can you tell me how to find it exactly? NB is huge...

And I read from your blog about the "World Kaikan" in Nakano, but am not sure where it is. Can you give directions? I seriously need to visit that Dio bar...

Also, anyone know of any interesting events in Tokyo during the days I mentioned? I just know of the Design Festa on May 14-15th. Seems like Sanja Matsuri has been cancelled because of the earthquake.. too bad, although I've seen it before. What about obscure movies, interesting bands performing, otaku conventions, bars where horny office ladies hang out, cave matsuri/super tougeki style events, birthday parties of old consoles (although I wouldn't get in anyway - not a native English speaker )... ?

[originalz]

Originalz, can you tell me how to find it exactly? NB is huge...

And I read from your blog about the "World Kaikan" in Nakano, but am not sure where it is. Can you give directions? I seriously need to visit that Dio bar...

They're both in the back alleys near Broadway, tons of bars in that area and if you walk around enough then you'll probably run into them eventually. It's kind of hard to give directions unless you know the layout of the area already, but I'd be down for showing you personally whenever you make it here.

[rancor]

Also, anyone know of any interesting events in Tokyo during the days I mentioned?

Justin Biebers playing Budokan on May 19th. You may be able to hook up with some corpse-painted Japanese snatch if you head out to Finland Festival on May 28th. Scandinavian metal bands Korpiklaani, Lapko, Mygrain and Moonsorrow will be there.




I dunno man, what are you into?


edit: Sorry - just noticed you wont be around for either of those events.. You can get a look at the events calendar over at Metropolis Magazine

[Shocky]

They're both in the back alleys near Broadway, tons of bars in that area and if you walk around enough then you'll probably run into them eventually. It's kind of hard to give directions unless you know the layout of the area already, but I'd be down for showing you personally whenever you make it here.

Cool. I've been to the Broadway, but it was some years ago and I only remember "right from the station". I'll send you a PM so we can work out a rendez-vous, would be excellent if you can spare the time!

Also, anyone know of any interesting events in Tokyo during the days I mentioned?

Justin Biebers playing Budokan on May 19th. You may be able to hook up with some corpse-painted Japanese snatch if you head out to Finland Festival on May 28th. Scandinavian metal bands Korpiklaani, Lapko, Mygrain and Moonsorrow will be there.

I dunno man, what are you into?


edit: Sorry - just noticed you wont be around for either of those events.. You can get a look at the events calendar over at Metropolis Magazine

Thanks for that url, Metropolis Magazine is the first thing I try to look for when in Japan, but I totally forgot that they might have a website too.

I like exploring, so I didn't state what I'm into.. but here's something: The usual videogame/cosplay/otaku/tokusatsu stuff; new inventions, robots especially; "genre" movies and film festivals and -parties; wrestling; break dancers on the streets; theme restaurants; shopping malls; NEW things - because new stuff comes from Japan; bars with girls who lust after FOTB's & gaijins (never been to Gas Panic.. should I? Which Roppongi bars do you guys recommend? Ones where I don't have to confront a gigantic nigerian bouncer who demands some exit fee when leaving); hippies, carnivals, jugglers... and SHMUPS! (probably not gonna buy any though, just play) So if there are any shmup meets, I'm game

Mostly electronic music (what are the best clubs nowadays? Last time I went to Module and Ageha, both ok but not so special that I need to visit again) or some crazy-ass punk gigs (it seems to be big in Japan) or even death metal .. point being not the music but the show and overal craziness. E.g. I like ABIGAIL just because of the attitude. Too bad I'm gonna miss that Finland Metal Festival thing - actually I used to hang out with the Moonsorrow guys ages ago.. maybe I could impress corpse-painted chicks with that..

And May 27 - 30th I'll be in Seoul, anyone know anything similar in there? I was there once and found Lotte World and some decent arcades, but a tight schedule and the language barrier prevented finding much anything else... do they have some great magazine in English that lists events? EDIT: haha, checked out Tokyo Scum Brigade again and whaddayaknow, a Korea special! Helps, but additional tips are still welcome.

[dcharlie]

never been to Gas Panic.. should I? Which Roppongi bars do you guys recommend? Ones where I don't have to confront a gigantic nigerian bouncer who demands some exit fee when leaving

avoid Gas Panic like the plague - smaller "bar/clubs" like Motown, Propaganda, 911, Wall Street are good pick up joints with out the scam (though you will find some working girls in there so whilst it's not an exit fee it has been know for guys to be asked for a payment when they take a girl home)

will add some other details later - just woke up. Will dig out my cafe list.

[Skykid]

(never been to Gas Panic.. should I? Which Roppongi bars do you guys recommend? Ones where I don't have to confront a gigantic nigerian bouncer who demands some exit fee when leaving);

Ah Gas Panic, the memories...

[Shocky]

never been to Gas Panic.. should I? Which Roppongi bars do you guys recommend? Ones where I don't have to confront a gigantic nigerian bouncer who demands some exit fee when leaving

avoid Gas Panic like the plague - smaller "bar/clubs" like Motown, Propaganda, 911, Wall Street are good pick up joints with out the scam (though you will find some working girls in there so whilst it's not an exit fee it has been know for guys to be asked for a payment when they take a girl home)

will add some other details later - just woke up. Will dig out my cafe list.

Went to Roppongi yesterday for a short while before succumbing to massive jet lag. Propaganda looked ok but a bit dead at the time so went to Wall Street. Did not connect with the crowd really, but at least "they" didn't try any scams. Narrowly resisted an unexplainable urge to visit Gas Panic. All the (young) japanese seemed to be flocking around Jumanji 55 or something; what's the deal with that place? I'll hit Roppongi again in June. Found Motown but didn't visit yet. Could not locate 911.

A NEW THEME-CAFE APPEARS. I just found out that there's a bar near Kichijoji station called "Ea", which is going to be transformed into some kind of a "Resident Evil bar + shooting range" (yes, happy 15y birthday RE!) for some weeks, starting on May 2xth IIRC. Anyone want to go there on Saturday June 4th (Thu or Fri would work too)? I'm going to Kichijoji anyways, to Inokashira park, and try to visit the "Ghost Izakaya Yuurei" which is close to Ea.